


Petty Officer

by chaos_monkey



Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Gen, artist!Eli, i don't take my own advice, not angst so much as dealing with jerks, thrawn is a supportive friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28341723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaos_monkey/pseuds/chaos_monkey
Summary: Eli deals with a minor annoyance.
Relationships: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo & Eli Vanto
Comments: 36
Kudos: 40





	Petty Officer

“Oh great, ‘the judge’ is back,” Eli muttered, rolling his eyes at his datapad while he ate. 

“Pardon?” Thrawn asked from across the mess hall table, blinking up at Eli from his own ‘pad. 

Eli blushed. He hadn’t really meant to say that out loud. “Nothing, just some clown on this holonet community I’m in is being kind of a dick to one of my friends. It’s annoying.” 

“What community is this?” 

“Just a sort of… thing I do, in my spare time,” Eli hedged, poking at his lunch. He dared a glance upwards at Thrawn, to find that piercing red gaze laser-focused on him from under a slightly raised eyebrow. “Alright, fine. I… draw, sometimes.” 

Thrawn’s eyebrows climbed higher with interest. “You are an artist?” 

“More just doodles, really,” Eli clarified, cheeks flaming hotter. 

“May I see?” 

Eli hesitated. He’d always been half intrigued by the thought of  _ Thrawn  _ seeing his sketches, and half mortified by the mere idea of it. 

“Ah. You are not comfortable showing me,” Thrawn said, head dipping in a slight nod. “I understand. I would like to see your pieces should you change your mind, but I will not press the matter. You enter your art in competitions?” 

“I— what? No,” Eli said, blinking in confusion. 

“You spoke of a judge.” 

“Oh, right. Yeah, no. That’s just it. We all share our stuff on this holonet site for people in the community to see, but it’s just for fun,” Eli explained. “And you can comment on what people post. Some jackass calling themself ‘the judge’ has started leaving anonymous comments on  _ all  _ the posts lately with these stupid yes or no ‘verdicts’. But they’ve obviously singled out one person for some reason, because  _ they  _ get a no, while every single other recent post has gotten a yes. I’m pretty sure this ‘judge’ isn’t even  _ looking  _ at the work.” 

Thrawn blinked. “That seems like a rather pointless use of their time.” 

“I know, right? I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but it pisses me off a little.” 

“Your friend is hurt by this?” 

Eli snorted. “Naw, they don’t really care. It’s just… it’s kinda toxic and shitty, y’know? For all the other people who think someone’s legitimately enjoying their work, too.” 

“Indeed,” Thrawn said, a faint frown creasing his forehead. “And nothing can be done about it?” 

“Not really,” Eli said, shrugging. “Whoever it is, they’re being petty but not breaking any actual rules. Maybe they’ll get bored of it before much longer.” 

“Perhaps,” Thrawn said thoughtfully. “What holonet site did you say this was?” 

“Oh, no. Don’t even  _ think  _ about it,” Eli said with a half-scandalized laugh as Thrawn sent him the most unconvincingly innocent expression he’d ever seen. 

“I assure you, I was thinking of nothing,” Thrawn said mildly, rising to his feet. “Shall we?” 

Eli followed suit, clearing his throat with another blush as he scooped up his empty lunch tray. “So, anyway… If you were, um, serious about wanting to see my stuff… Maybe I could show you some of it later?” 

He glanced over to see Thrawn smiling at him. 

“I would like that very much.” 


End file.
